The present invention relates to an actuating device for locking and/or unlocking a container of energy, of the battery type, for an electric motor vehicle. Hereinafter, the term battery will be used for the purposes of simplicity. The invention also relates to a system for replacing a battery or any container of energy of a motor vehicle including such an actuating device and to a station for replacing a battery using such a system. Finally, it relates to a method of replacing an energy container using such an actuating device.
Certain motor vehicles, such as electric or hybrid vehicles, comprise a battery that powers an electric drive motor. It may prove advantageous to exchange this battery, when its level of energy is low, for a new fully charged battery. This can be done in a station similar to a service station in which a motor vehicle can have its fuel tank filled.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,606 discloses a station for exchanging the electric battery that powers a motor that drives an electric vehicle and a method for performing such an exchange. In the exchange station described, the driver positions the vehicle approximately in a rail, against a longitudinal end stop with respect to equipment belonging to the station. After that, in phases that are fairly well automated, mobile means for removing the electric battery and for assembling the new battery in the vehicle position themselves relative to the vehicle using sensors.
One difficulty in setting up such a battery exchange concept is that there are a great many motor vehicles that may carry batteries of different types, fixed to the motor vehicle in different ways. Now, it is not economically conceivable to have a proliferation of automatic devices for removing and replacing these different types of battery or to set in place a manual solution, because of the cost of this and the weight of the batteries.
Hence, to make it easy to roll out battery exchange stations (requiring little by way of technological competence), it is necessary to make these stations operate reliably, robustly, flexibly and universally.